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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26512456">Smooth Sailing through Rough Waters</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura'>misura</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Explicit Language, Hospitals, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Timeline What Timeline</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 03:14:48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>519</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26512456</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Seawoll gets shot and wakes up in a hospital bed. Things go downhill from there (or do they?).</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Thomas Nightingale/Alexander Seawoll</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Fandom Giftbox 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Smooth Sailing through Rough Waters</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevenall/gifts">sevenall</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Of fucking course his second visitor is Nightingale, looking elegant and calm and untouchable - except that Seawoll's touched him, and seen his face right before - well.</p>
<p>Everyone's capable of committing acts of unparalleled stupidity, it seems. Seawoll could have wished the lesson would have come a little cheaper.</p>
<p>"If you're here to gloat, you can fuck right off," he says, because 'thank you for coming' would make him sound like an idiot, and 'welcome', ditto.</p>
<p>Nightingale looks faintly startled, as if the concept of gloating is wholly alien to him. (It's not. Seawoll's seen him do it. He sort of liked how it looked which, in hindsight, should have been a warning sign.)</p>
<p>"And if you're here to be social, I demand flowers," Seawoll adds. Miriam knows him too well for flowers. Nightingale, improbably as it would seem, too.</p>
<p>"I'll keep that in mind for tomorrow," Nightingale says, his expression smoothly changing from faint surprise to faint something else. Relief, maybe. Seawoll isn't dying or anything; no reason to expect he'll suffer any lasting damage from this whole thing.</p>
<p>Other than knowing that, when push comes to shove, there's a new name on the list of people he'd take a bullet for.</p>
<p>(Nightingale would almost certainly wince at that thought, insist Seawoll says it properly: 'the list of people for whom he'd take a bullet'.)</p>
<p>"Tomorrow, I'll be wanting a fruits basket," Seawoll says.</p>
<p>"Naturally. I'll ask - " Nightingale starts, then seems to reconsider. "Or perhaps not. Regardless, I'm pleased to hear you're feeling better."</p>
<p>Seawoll remembers the sensation of the bullet hitting him. It didn't even hurt, not at first, but then he saw the blood and the expression on Nightingale's face, and he decided neither of those two things were worth staying conscious for.</p>
<p>"You - " Nightingale hesitates again. Seawoll wants to tell him to fucking spit it out already. "Is there anything I can actually get you?"</p>
<p>Seawoll considers lying, but getting shot really takes it out of a man, and the sooner he's up and about, the sooner they can go back to normal. Hopefully. Maybe. "Tea," he says.</p>
<p>Nightingale nods, heads for the door - pauses, just when Seawoll's about to relax, and says, "I want you to know, I consider myself in your debt."</p>
<p>Gloating would have been more welcome, Seawoll decides. At least he could have been comfortable hating Nightingale for that. Instead, clearly, Nightingale's going to turn what's happened into a Thing.</p>
<p>"Will you fuck off," he says, though he knows it's not going to be that easy. Still, when this all ends with the two of them getting old and cozy and pathetic together, he'll be able to tell himself that at least he tried.</p>
<p>"I'll get you that cup of tea," Nightingale says, willfully misunderstanding.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>("Fuck me," Seawoll says, perhaps five minutes later. "What did you put in this?" and Nightingale smiles, looking so enigmatic and mysterious that Seawoll wants to throw his tea at him.)</p>
<p>("Don't worry - I cleared it with your doctors first.")</p>
<p>("Thanks for sucking all the fun out of it. You can go now. I'm sure you're busy.")</p>
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